Question

reading“My Two Lives”and answer the questions

1. Jhumpa Lahiri notes, “…my perception as a young girl was that I fell short at both ends” (paragraph 1). What does she mean by this? Explain in your own words. 2. According to Lahiri, how was her experience as an Indian-American girl different from the experience of her friends whose families also came from other cultures? Explain in your own words. 3. In your own words, explain what Lahiri means in the last sentence of Paragraph 3. 4. As an adult, does Lahiri seem comfortable or uncomfortable with her Indian heritage? Explain with examples, in your own words. 5. How does Lahiri think her parents’ death will change her? Explain in your own words.

Answer 1

1) “…my perception as a young girl was that I fell short at both ends” It means, being an Indian-American, she felt that she doesn't belong to neither Indian or American culture or their way of life. Indian culture followed at her home she felt she was westernised while being in her school or in society her face betrayed her. Her face a look of a foreigner with a strange name.

2) According to Lahiri, her experience as an Indian-American girl different from the experience of her friends whose families also came from other cultures because they have immigrated years before during the time of their forefathers so that their ethnic background was submerged below them.

3) "In spite of the first lessons of arithmetic, one plus one did not equal two but zero, my conflicting selves always cancelling each other out." These lines states that she feels that she was not able to fit in both Indian culture and American culture. She was facing an Identity crisis because she was trying to fit into either one culture perfectly, but she was unable to do so.

4) Yes, Lahiri seems comfortable with her Indian heritage, because she invites her non-Indian friends to Calcutta, India to attend her wedding and also teaches Bengali to her children even though she lacks proficiency to read and write Bengali. These are some examples to show that she is comfortable with her Indian heritage. She also states that having bicultural heritage is a rich but is an imperfect thing, she cant be a perfect Indian nor perfect American. It is a comprise between both.

5) Lahiri thinks her parents’ death could change certain things like conversing in Bengali, difficulties they faced living foreign country, connection to their ethnic background will be submerged underground and a line of connection to their Indian origins will be severed.